MovieChat Forums > Female Trouble (1976) Discussion > I first saw this movie.....

I first saw this movie.....

posted 19 years ago by brendanchenowith
13 replies | jump to latest

.....when I was 20. I'd bought a really bad VHS bootleg of Pink Flamingos and really liked it. Then I found Female Trouble somewhere and, at first, didn't really get into it, but there were some scenes I liked, so I gave it another chance (after all, I did buy the thing) and I fell in love with it. It's not as goofy as Pink Flamingos, it's played with a slightly serious overtone. Overall, the early Waters movies were a parody of those rinky-dink camera moves and echoey sound and bad acting, etc. After I'd seen a couple of Waters films, I then saw a couple of Warhol films and I knew what Waters was doing then.

BRENDA CHENOWITH
1969 - 2051

[–] tgemberl 19 years ago

Brenda, it's interesting that you got introduced to Female Trouble about the time you watched Pink Flamingos. I personally find Pink Flamingos unwatchable. I think people may get the wrong impression of Female Trouble if they see it with Pink Flamingos. Actually, there's a film critic, Guy Mariner Tucker, who says even Waters would like to remove one scene from Pink Flamingos for "Divine's dignity" if he could, the one where Divine performs oral sex on her "son." I had to get up and leave the room at that point, whereas for me, Female Trouble is almost perfect pleasure, the funniest thing I've ever seen. Pink Flamingos is pretty repulsive.

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] brendanchenowith 19 years ago

Admittedly, I never cared for the oral sex scene and the chicken sex thing I tolerated at best, but a lot of it was still pretty funny - like Divine's ranting when the Marbles send her a turd in the mail, etc. For a long time I doubted Waters' opinion that Female Trouble was a better movie, but now I think so, too. It's great social satire. I was watching Female Trouble not very long ago and I really cracked up when Taffy became a Hare Krishna - I think that's one of the best scenes in the movie. Now that I think of it, I got Pink Flamingos based on a friend's recommendation and when I saw that one, the same person really talked up Female Trouble.

Is this a Quaker thing- you f u c k someone's husband to death and you bring them a quiche?

[–] tgemberl 19 years ago

Yeah, maybe I should try watching Pink Flamingos again sometime. Maybe it's not as bad as I thought. I do own it since I got both movies together as a set. But I've never watched the Pink Flamingos in the set. And when I've thought of lending the set to someone to share Female Trouble with them, I've always said, "please don't watch Pink Flamingos when you watch FT." Because I think people can too easily be put off by how gross PF is and miss the real warmth and humor of FT.

To me, the funniest scenes in FT are first, the one where you first see Aunt Ida and Gator, with her trying to sell him on the virtues of the gay life, and second, the scene where Dawn's associates "ooh and ah" after her scarring by the acid. That could be the craziest scene in all movie history. Waters is sort of making fun of something we normally think of as sacrosanct, compassion, or maybe flattery.

Actually, another really neat aspect of that first scene is how it starts, with Edith Massey nude: that breaks all the stereotypes about nudity! There's definitely no "sex appeal" in this movie. Actually, the closest it gets to sex appeal for me is Chicklette. She looks pretty cute, reminds me of an old girlfriend.

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tgemberl 19 years ago

Thanks. What an interesting and funny story.

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] onnanob2 17 years ago

brendanchenowith, it was the opposite for me. I saw Pink Flamingos when I was around 20, and hated it, lol. I bought Female Trouble on video a few years later, because it was really cheap. I had never seen Female Trouble before, and man, was I rolling! I was laughing so hard over the little Taffy scenes that I stopped the movie, called a friend, and told her she just had to come over to watch! I think it was my great enjoyment of Female Trouble that made me want to have another look at Pink Flamingos. Soon enough, Pink Flamingos became another favorite of mine! Hmmm, maybe you should have another look at Female Trouble.

[–] brendanchenowith 17 years ago

Oh, I have - and it's really grown on me. I have the two films on those New Line Two-fers that were out for a while. I understand those packages are out of print - I haven't seen them on the shelves for quite some time,so now all the films are sold separately.

But I don't know what to do with these tossed salads and scrambled eggs - they're calling again.

[–] jrsl88 16 years ago

I watched Female Trouble on Youtube. Someone once said to me I should watch Female Trouble before Pink Flamingos because Female Trouble is tamer. I still want to see Pink Flamingos and also Mondo Trasho. I seen Multiple Maniacs, Desperate Living, Polyester on Veoh. I rented Pecker a few times. And I own Hairspray, Cry-Baby, and Serial Mom.

FILTH IS MY POLITICS! FILTH IS MY LIFE!

[–] brendanchenowith 16 years ago

Is the whole movie on You Tube? I should check that out when I'm at my desk at work - that'll really get me through the day.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.

[–] jrsl88 16 years ago

Few obscene parts are cut.

FILTH IS MY POLITICS! FILTH IS MY LIFE!

[–] brendanchenowith 16 years ago

Oh, well, I guess I can deal with that - I do have the disc at home. Thanks for telling me.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.

[–] jrsl88 16 years ago

By the way this is my 2nd NC-17 film I seen. The 1st was The Evil Dead.

FILTH IS MY POLITICS! FILTH IS MY LIFE!

[–] brendanchenowith 16 years ago

I love the Evil Dead and have seen it several times - but what bothers me is this NC-17 rating - what the hell for? I even double-checked to see if that refers to the Bruce Campbell movie, and sure enough...

I cannot believe it.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.